Ekslibris for Niels P. Thomsen 1875 - 1945

This is Gudmund Hentze’s ‘Ex Libris for Niels P. Thomsen', an etching made without a date. But if you look closely at the bottom, you can see 1914. The print shows Saint George slaying a dragon. I imagine Hentze making this small but mighty bookplate: he’s carefully layering the lines, building up tones to create drama and depth. I’m sure Hentze thought a lot about how this little image would function as a mark of ownership, a personal stamp that suggests something about the book owner’s identity and values. I feel like he’s talking to Dürer, who also made prints of knights. The lines are so delicate, yet the image pulsates with tension. The image could be a metaphor for the intellectual battle that takes place within the pages of a book; or a symbol of the owner’s bravery and knowledge. The cool thing about art is that it becomes a conversation with anyone who comes across it. It opens a space of imagination around the artwork.